European Union (Amendment) Bill

If that is the case, why was Scotland a bit of a wasteland for manufacturing under the Conservative Government until we joined the EU? When we joined the EU, Scotland was suddenly part of a larger union with free movement and clear rules about tariff barriers. The treaty contains rules about not only tariff barriers but other technical barriers that tried to stop the free movement. We had the benefits about which I am talking because we moved into the larger free market zone. [Interruption.] The hon. Member for Stone can protest from a sedentary position if he likes. He does not like the other parts of the EU, and maybe he does not like parts of the customs union, but it is a fact that his constituents and mine benefited—and continue to benefit—from being part of that larger union. We had some controversy about service liberalisation, which is dealt with in articles 56 to 61 in chapter 3 of title IV. I would be worried about that too if we did not have the protocol on goods of common interest to which I referred earlier, but we need free markets, without barriers, in goods and services, and in services provided by individuals. Articles 107 and 108 in chapter 1, section 2 of title VII deal with state aid. They are fundamental to what the Commission will do, and they make very clear what will happen in respect of state aid. Article 107 states:"““Save as otherwise provided in the Treaties, any aid granted by a Member State or through state resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain goods shall…be incompatible with the internal market.””" Every year. the European Scrutiny Committee sees reports that deal with investigations into state aid—